Hellenic Armed Forces: Hellenic Army (Ellinikos Stratos, ES; includes National Guard reserves), Hellenic Navy (Elliniko Polemiko Navtiko, EPN), Hellenic Air Force (Elliniki Polemiki Aeroporia, EPA; includes air defense) (2021)
General Staff, Land Forces Command, Navy Force Command (includes Coast Guard), Air Forces Command, Support Command, Training and Doctrination Command (2021)
Military service age and obligation
19-45 years of age for compulsory military service; during wartime the law allows for recruitment beginning January of the year of inductee's 18th birthday, thus including 17 year olds; 18 years of age for volunteers; conscript service obligation is 1 year for the Army and 9 months for the Air Force and Navy; women are eligible for voluntary military service (2019)
19 is the legal minimum age for voluntary military service; 18 is the legal minimum age in case of general/partial compulsory mobilization; conscription abolished 2010 (2019)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP
2.68% of GDP (2020 est.)
2.36% of GDP (2019)
2.54% of GDP (2018)
2.38% of GDP (2017)
2.4% of GDP (2016)
1.3% of GDP (2020 est.)
1.31% of GDP (2019)
1.16% of GDP (2018)
1.11% of GDP (2017)
1.1% of GDP (2016)
Military - note
Greece joined NATO in 1952
Albania officially became a member of NATO in 2009
Military and security service personnel strengths
the Hellenic Armed Forces have approximately 130,000 active duty personnel (90,000 Army; 15,000 Navy; 25,000 Air Force); approximately 35,000 National Guard (2020)
information varies; approximately 8,000 total active duty personnel (6,000 Army; 1,500 Navy; 500 Air Force) (2020)
Military equipment inventories and acquisitions
the inventory of the Hellenic Armed Forces consists mostly of a mix of imported weapons from Europe and the US, as well as a limited number of domestically produced systems, particularly naval vessels; Germany is the leading supplier of weapons systems to Greece since 2010, followed by France and the US; Greece's defense industry is capable of producing naval vessels and associated subsystems (2020)
the Albanian military was previously equipped with mostly Soviet-era weapons that were sold or destroyed; its inventory now includes a mix of mostly donated and second-hand European and US equipment; since 2010, it has received limited amounts of equipment from France, Germany, and the US (2020)
Military deployments
approximately 1,000 Cyprus; 110 Kosovo (NATO); 150 Lebanon (UNIFIL) (Jan 2021)
